Almost without exception most jivers want to dance rather than sit. However most experienced jivers would rather sit than dance to unsuitable music. Therefore, music is only good jive music, if it inspires the dancers to get up and jive. A sign of experience is knowing when to sit a record out, because it is too fast, or has the wrong rhythm. However beginners do not have this experience. On many occasions I have seen beginners and inexperienced dancers struggling to stay up and dance to unsuitable music which experienced dancers would give a miss. Because the jive is an energy dance good jive music must not be too slow, it must have energy and rhythm. However, since most jivers want to stay on the floor as long as possible neither should it be too fast. There is no point in playing swing music for this will just bore the majority of jivers. Helter-skelter fast tunes will just wear the dancers out and result in them having to resort to time-steps and lindyhops or going off the floor maybe even before the record finishes. It is a sure sign that the music is bad and the dancers are struggling when experienced jivers stop jiving and revert to time-steps and lindyhops. Therefore good jive music is music that has sufficient speed, energy and rhythm to inspire the dancers and enable them to dance the night away but not so fast that it wears them out. So avoid boring swing, jazz and mad fast tunes. |
I will not attempt to list all the unsuitable tunes for they are far too numerous. Instead I will just mention those I think are good jive tunes and maybe refer to some that should be put in the bin. |
We must also remember for whom the music is being played. If it is a beginners class the music should have good rhythm but not be too fast. Beginners have a lot to take in. Trying to remember the steps is hard enough and is made impossible if they are expected to do so to very fast music. Since beginners need time, the music played should be a bit slower than for experienced dancers, and have a strong beat, otherwise it all becomes too confusing. To be continued. |